


The Madman

by MissPoet (orphan_account)



Series: SSO Mysteries [1]
Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 13:19:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15819690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/MissPoet
Summary: When Ydris is diagnosed with insanity, his squad is on the case. But, little do they suspect how deep the story gets...





	The Madman

“Says who?!” I demanded. The nurse with the leering smile grinned wider.  
“Young lady, you’d do well to quiet down. Reports of insanity are not to be taken lightly,” she sniffed.  
“INSANITY?!” Thalia sputtered.  
“Insanity?” Mel repeated.  
“You are insane,” Silencia sighed in her monotone. The nurse clicked as she beckoned the doctor over.  
“I’m afraid they’ll give us trouble,” she clucked. The doctor coughed.  
“Return home, ladies. We’re not here to hurt anyone, we just need to do the routine questioning.”  
“Says who?!” I cried again.  
“Doctor Oplet, and I’m a certified psychiatrist,” Dr. Oplet acted like me and the girls were kids.  
“Who filed the report of insanity?” Thalia shouted.  
“Who?!” Mel seconded.  
“Who?!” I added.  
“Who,” Silencia copied us, but it sounded more like a statement than a question on her lips.  
“Oh, you sound like a bunch of owls,” Dr. Oplet moaned. I stepped forward sweetly.  
“Sir, you’re about to witness a phenomenon of nature!”  
“What?” Dr. Oplet scoffed.  
“A bunch of mares defending their stallion! Mares, let’s do this now!” I laughed as Thalia, Mel, Silencia and I linked arms. Silencia and Mel were at the end of the line, so they each grabbed a fold of the circus tent. This way, we were blocking Dr. Oplet’s entry.  
“Stand down!” the nurse snapped.  
“We’re not movin’!” Thalia roared.  
“Just because we think differently is no reason to condemn us. That’s not always the case, but it is here.”  
“Move aside,” the doctor demanded. “give us what we want!” I remembered a bit of history I’d picked up during my time spent in TX. That gave me an idea.  
“Come and take him!” I set up a chant. Thalia, Mel, and Silencia followed my lead. Dr. Oplet stamped his foot, but we just chanted louder.  
Then;  
“Mon doves, what is this?” Great. Ydris had come out of the tent.  
“Someone filed a report that you’re insane,” Silencia cut to the chase. Ydris choked a laugh.  
“And they’re here to bring me in? Fantastique!”  
“Sir, you’ll have to come with us,” the nurse ordered. Ydris gave her a stare with his bad eye.  
“Non.”  
“We have the authority to take you by force!”  
“Mon little flea, I’d love to see you try,” Ydris chuckled. The Doctor laughed.  
“He’s raving mad,” he declared, pulling out a watch. Suddenly, Ydris’ face went white.  
“Perhaps,” he gasped, “I’d better go with you after all.”  
“Ydris!” Thalia choked. “These people are quacks! You go with them, they’ll lock you up forever!” But, Ydris wasn’t listening.  
“Isebell!” he called out. Isebell emerged from the tent.  
“What-?” Quickly, we explained what was going on. Ydris turned to her like a frightened child.  
“I must go with them, mon ami. I can’t explain why, only I must. Send them away s’il vous plait!” he sobbed suddenly. Isebell bit her lip.  
“Doctor Oplet, girls, will you give us a second?” she requested. Dazedly, Thalia, Silencia, Mel, and I scurried up to Zee on the cliffside.  
“What’s wrong with him? Thalia wondered aloud. None of us knew the answer. I watched as Ydris rested his head on Isebell’s, his shoulders shaking.  
“He’s crying!” Mel declared.  
“Mais pourquoi?” Thalia asked. (That meant but why, as I’d learned.)  
“He’s terrified,” I observed. “He feels compelled to go with them, but he’s scared to death.”  
“Isebell wants us,” Silencia stated in a monotone. We quickly ran back to the couple.  
“Is everything okay?” Mel inquired. Isebell nodded.  
“It will be fine.”  
“Sir, if you please,” the nurse gestured to their car. Ydris nodded as Dr. Oplet seized his arm.  
“Wait, mon Isebell!” Ydris cried to her. Isebell darted forward. The two managed a kiss before they were forced apart. Dr. Oplet shoved Ydris into the nurse’s car. Just like that, they were gone. Silencia, Mel, Thalia, and I looked at each other, feeling loss without our leader.

My Dunduller cousin, Genevieve Winddaughter, would want to know. I called her that night when I was back in Valedale.  
“Hey, cousin Elaine, what’s up?” she asked casually.  
“Gen!” I poured out the whole story without pausing for breath. When I finished, Gen was silent.  
“Dr. Oplet, eh? I think I know the guy,” she clucked. “El, where’d they take Ydris?”  
“Psych ward, they said.”  
“Meet me there tomorrow. Bring Isebell, but no one else! Okay?”  
“Okay, what’s…”  
“This is deeper than it looks. Don’t worry, I know what to do.”

The next morning, Gen was waiting for me outside the Psych ward.  
“El!” she rebuked, “ I said Isebell, not Isebell, Diggory, Xin, and Zee!”  
“You tell them,” I sighed. “Believe it or not, Xin, Zee, and Diggory are very demanding.”  
“Fine,” Gen growled. “Come on.”  
A moment later, we were inside the psych ward, listening to nurses’ chatter.  
“Did you see that feller they brought in here yesterday?” one giggled.  
“Who, gorgeous? Yeah, who didn’t,” the second nurse joined her. Isebell’s cheeks burned as she stalked toward them.  
“Did you happen to notice our matching jewelry?” she snarled, indicating her wedding ring.

“Isebell! Over here,” Gen called. “Listen, we’ve got to get Ydris out. I’ve got an awful hunch as to what’s really going on.”  
“What now?” I asked. Gen considered that.  
“Zee’s outside should we need a fast escape. So, that’s covered. WE need to find out where they’re keeping Ydris.”  
“Xin! Diggory!” Isebell shouted suddenly. The monkey had run off down the hall, and the jester was following him.  
“Isebell, wait!” I called, following her.  
“Guys come on!” Gen groaned as she ran after us.  
We ran through twisting, winding corridors before Xin came to a stop. There, in front of us, occupying a barred cell, was Ydris.  
“Xin?” he gasped at hearing the jester’s exultant cry. “Xin, is that you?!” It was then that I noticed the eye.  
“Mon Ydris! Isebell let out a sob. “Your good eye!” Ydris’ blue eye was in fine condition, despite being sightless. The brown one, however, was heavily battered.  
“Isebell?!” Ydris grasped the bars blindly. “You came too?”  
“It’s Isebell, Xin, Gen, and Elaine,” I explained. Ydris nodded slowly.  
“Magnifique,” he murmured, “Now, get out of here!”  
“What?!”  
“Go, now!”  
“No,” Isebell protested. At that moment, someone else came upon us.  
“What have we here!’ Dr. Oplet laughed. I jumped up, leaving Isebell to help Ydris.  
“Let him go!” I choked. “Why are you doing this?”  
“A good question,” a middle-aged man walked in just then. “Suppose you explain? Little Ydris?”  
“Oui,” Ydris’ hand slipped down the bars. “He was my old ringmaster,” he indicated the middle-aged man in the white coat. “He relished nothing so much as to see a starving orphan suffer. He would flog me, humiliate me, hurt me. I was born half-blind; he loved that. He would cover my good eye, make moi walk around like that. He’d make me bump into things and force me to listen while others laughed. Eventually, Xin convinced me to escape with him and Zee. It took a while, for, despite my misery, my ‘employer’ would threaten that, if he caught me running away, he’d blind me in both eyes.”  
“Oh!” Isebell cried indignantly.  
“I’m afraid he has nearly succeeded. Mon cher, I came with them because I was frightened of what they might do to you and the girls. Now, they have diagnosed me with insanity, and I shall be locked up here forever.”

“Not if you were diagnosed by a phony doctor!” Gen declared. At that moment, two more people joined us.  
“Doctor Eiren of Dundull,” a red-haired woman stated. “Remember me, Oplet?  
“Rania Varanger,” a girl grasping a cane smiled. “Remember this?” She held up a bottle labeled Go! Energy! Drinks!  
“GED,” Gen whispered. Then, she spoke loudly, “Doctor Oplet is a fake! He’s a schemer who lives for himself, making money by hiring himself out to villains!”  
“I give testimony to what he nearly did to Dundull,” Rania shivered.  
“And I,” Doctor Eiren added, “say that the magician is not truly insane. Different, but not insane.”  
“We have the police ready to take Oplet away now,” Rania announced. “And, sir,” she turned to Ydris’ torturer, “What is your name?”  
“Abercrombie,” he cackled. Rania nodded.  
“You too.”  
“You are the true madman,” Gen pointed out. “You tortured a little boy for years for no valid reason! And now, you’re yet again repeating irrational behavior by trying to finish what you started. If you want an easy sentence, I demand you open that cage door!” Gen tossed her curls defiantly.  
“All right,” Abercrombie laughed again as he unlocked the door. I noticed something in his hand-too late.  
“He’s got a pen!” I shrieked. Gen, Isebell, me, Rania, and even Xin jumped forward, trying to help Ydris in time…  
Abercrombie stabbed Ydris’ good eye once…  
Diggory screamed in angry monkey language…  
Dr. Eiren tried to get in and help…  
Abercrombie stabbed at the eye twice…

Just in time, Gen came at the villain with a flying kick, knocking the pen, and him, to the ground. Isebell grabbed Ydris and lugged him out as quickly as she could. Dr. Eiren went to work on his eye, leaving me, Gen, and Rania to deal with Abercrombie. We did, gladly. Diggory bounced to our aid, helping in the way a performing monkey could. (Mostly shrieking.) A moment later, we’d wrassled him into our control.  
“Ydris,” I panted, “we’ve got him.”  
“If you’d like to take a crack at him, now’s the chance,” Gen gasped. Ydris took a step forward, his perfect jaw clenched. I could see he was reliving years of agony and shame. His fists clenched tightly.  
“I would be lying on the ground, begging you to stop,” he hissed. “You were a monster. As for moi,” Ydris’ usual tone resumed as his fists softened, “I like to think I’m something above your pathetic level.” Gracefully, he turned away.  
“Well, I don’t care!” Isebell slapped Abercrombie across the face joyfully. 

The police took Dr. Oplet away, and Abercrombie too. Happily, I sighed.  
“All’s well that ends well,” Gen laughed. Our group was sitting in the lobby, waiting for an okay to go home.  
“Mais, wait!” Ydris cried. “This well has not ended well enough! Isebell, what can we do about that?” he moved closer to her.  
“Haven’t the slightest idea,” Isebell teased. Now, they were mere inches apart.  
“A kiss, perhaps?”  
“Eh, you talked me into it!”  
A few people coughed and looked down, and some uttered loud exclamations. But, Gen and I watched the couple with grins.  
“Awwww yeah,” we quoted together.

So, that was the day Genevieve Winddaughter’s planning earned Ydris’ respect. After that, they were good friends, but, due to their conflicting personalities, they still quarreled. That was the day my cousin showed her true colors, and I admire her for that. That was also the day Ydris and Isebell showed an entire lobby what a real kiss looks like.  
-Elaine Meadowwood  
P.S. Ydris did in fact, recover his sight.


End file.
